Playing through concussions, sprained ankles and devastating knee injuries, three former Kamehameha players embody the Warrior spirit that inhabits this Rainbow Wahine soccer team.

Senior midfielder Jessica Domingo, senior defender Lehua Wood and freshman utility player Mari Punzal lead Hawai'i into its Western Athletic Conference schedule this week with home games against Nevada (4-5-1) and Fresno State (5-5).

It should be two of the tougher games the Rainbow Wahine will play in conference. The Nevada game is tonight at 7 and Fresno State is Sunday at 5.

Nevada won the WAC Tournament, and Fresno State was the conference regular-season champion last year.

"I feel like the WAC came really fast, but I feel ready," said Domingo, the team's co-captain. "We had a lot of injuries, but everyone is starting to get their health back. Starting out the season against these teams is really important."

Nevada defeated Hawai'i twice last year with a combined score of 8-0. Fresno State's four-game win streak started in 2004.

"We definitely have a chip on our shoulders," Domingo said. "But we get to play them off a pretty good start to the season. It's nice to have them at home."

All the former Warriors came to UH with notable prep credentials. Wood and Domingo were both All-State second-team selections, and Punzal was The Advertiser's State Player of the Year in 2007.

Domingo has been the emotional and physical leader for the Rainbow Wahine. A three-year captain, she anchored the midfield since her freshman year while playing through concussions, sprained ankles, fingers and knees.

"I maintain that she's, in terms of tactical understanding of the game, the best player I've ever coached," Hawai'i coach Pinsoom Tenzing said. "What she does may not show up in the stat books, but it's the tactical gruntwork that makes the team tick.

"She is an inspirational player on the field, and off the field ... the whole family has been so supportive of the entire team. The team is so well knit, they like each other, and I can attribute that entirely to her leadership."

Punzal said Domingo's never-give-up attitude inspires the rest of the team to follow.

"She's always positive," Punzal said.

Wood, one of the quickest and most athletic players on the team, also lettered in basketball and football, kicking a 32-yard field goal for Kamehameha.

"She's really driven and hard- working," Domingo said.

"She's very athletic and very aggressive on the field, and she goes in hard for balls."

Punzal said playing in the back with Wood was beneficial because "she calmed me down and told me not to worry because she had my back."

"It helped," having that Kamehameha bond, Punzal said. "Just knowing we were from the same school helped a lot."

Wood, a two-time all-WAC academic honoree, missed the final four games of last year after suffering an injury to her right knee.

Tenzing called her "a really a solid defender."

"Again, she's coming back from a devastating injury, and I don't think she's as strong and effective as she was last year, but she is the best right fullback we have," he said. "Conditioning was a problem, but she's coming along."

Punzal has played everywhere but goal in her young career — "she's very athletic, so I'm sure she would be fine," Tenzing quipped — and was named the WAC Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 3. The week after the honor, Punzal had a concussion and missed the next game.

"She's just an absolutely charming kid," Tenzing said. "By process of osmosis, she rubs that off to everyone on the team."

Domingo added: "Mari is seriously one of a kind. She can make you smile no matter how sad you are, that's her personality."

Punzal is from Kapa'a, and said she's "so happy" with her decision to remain in Hawai'i, because her parents, Laurie and Eugene, fly from Kaua'i to catch most of her home games.

Tenzing depends on the trio — who follow former Kamehameha players Poliala Paresa, Camille Kalama, Robyn deHay and Carmel Hurley under Kamehameha's Michele Nagamine — to help solidify the Wahine lineup.

"We are still struggling. We don't have the combination we need, and injuries are keeping starters out," Tenzing said.

Starting defender and captain Tehane Higa missed the past few games because of an ankle sprain and midfielder Kristen Oshiro has a knee sprain that has kept her out of games.

"We don't have the magic formula," Tenzing said.

"We are entering the season limping. It's not the ideal situation, but I'll take what we have this year as opposed to what he had last year (when the Wahine suffered season-ending injuries during the WAC season)."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.